UNCTAD and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) are organizing a national workshop in Amman from 23 to 26 September on the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the impact of the new trading system on the trade prospects for Jordan, which is not a member of WTO.

The workshop is being convened at the request of the Jordanian Government, and is expected to bring together about fifty to seventy representatives from both the public and private sectors. On the agenda is an analysis of the Uruguay Round results: the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) and its implications on this sector in Jordan, including the preparation of a schedule of commitments by Jordan on services; the Agriculture Agreement, including tariffication and non-tariff measures, subsidies, aggregate measures for support; the Trade-Related Intellectual Property Agreement (TRIPs), with emphasis on the pharmaceutical industry; the Textiles and Clothing Agreement, with emphasis on rules of origin.

The other major item on the agenda is the accession of Jordan to the WTO, and ways of strengthening its negotiating and institutional capacity to participate in the multilateral trading system. On 25 and 26 September, the experts at the meeting will review with the Jordanian National Committee on accession to the WTO various modalities related to future negotiations within the WTO.

Presentations will be made at the Workshop by international consultants, including experts from UNCTAD, WTO and the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA).

This workshop is being organized under the auspices of the Jordanian Ministry of Industry and Trade and in close cooperation with WTO and ESCWA. It forms part of a series organized under the joint technical assistance programme of UNCTAD and UNDP for Arab countries on WTO issues. Similar workshops were held in 1995 and 1996 in Morocco, Lebanon, Libya, Bahrain, Sudan; two will be convened in the Palestinian territory (see Note to correspondents No. 17) from 28 to 2 October; others are expected to be undertaken shortly in Algeria and Yemen.

Parallel to this meeting an UNCTAD seminar is scheduled to take place in Amman on 25 September on the Euro-Mediterranean cooperation agreement and trade relations between Jordan and the European Union.